Pages

Sunday, April 4, 2010

I hope you are feasting on those chocolate eggs, sugary chicks and marshmallow bunnies. Maybe you've organised an egg hunt and have a flock of little ones running around your garden carrying wicker baskets. Or you might have spent the last couple of weeks making and decorating an easter tree. Maybe you told your kids the easter bunny has hidden those eggs in your garden, or maybe you said it was the bells that came from Rome.
But have you ever stopped to think where all this easter madness comes from?

You're probably thinking: "Well, we're just celebrating the ressurection of Christ, what else?" Actually Easter goes well beyond that. As with Christmas, Christianity has conveniently replaced an age old pagan feast with their own - more recent tradition. As many a pagan rite, Easter was all about fertility.But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Easter is not mentioned in the bible. The word simply appeared in Christianism out of a mistranslation of the Greek word Pasha, meaning passover. Easter actually refers to the godess of spring (Eostre - Aglo-saxon, Eostur - Norse, Ishtar or Astarte - Near East or Astoreth in the Bible). the rite surrounding Easter was one of rejuvenation and reproduction. Of the earth and its creatures regaining its fertility, of the return of sunshine to the world.

Seen in this light, the symbols of Easter, which are still in use today, start making sense. In ancient Egypt, given its high reproductive capacities, the hare was the symbol of fertility. In some European countries, however, the eggs are brought by bells that come from Rome.
The egg is also a strong symbol of fertility and rebirth, and the egg hunt is simply a reproduction of insemination.
The Easter tree is a clear return of spring-symbol, since newly green branches are brought into the house and decorated.